The budget will fund 2% pay increases for K-12 teachers, a minimum pay scale for school support staff, and a $1,000 bonus for special education teachers. It will also fund 100 additional teachers in the middle grades and big pay raises for school nurses.

Among the rather dim conclusions drawn from the report are the pandemic's widespread impact on teacher shortages in 2020-21 along with districts' difficulties in hiring mental health support staff.

“Less is more with the repeal of the A-F system, which always tried to create the false impression that rating schools was easy. It isn't," State Superintendent Michael Rice said in the statement from Whitmer's office. "Schools are complex, and what educators do daily for children is as well. It distills poorly into a letter grade system."

Many solutions involve technology that schools added during the pandemic and are now using to turn complex challenges into opportunities.